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Neville: Klopp will struggle to better Rodgers

Date published: Saturday 17th October 2015 9:51

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville says it would take “one of the great managerial performances of all time” for Liverpool to win the title under Jurgen Klopp, telling the club’s owners to “throw money” at the problems.

Neville, writing in his Daily Telegraph column, says he is uncomfortable with the outpouring of love towards Klopp from the British media before he has even managed a match in this country.

‘I’m not sure whether Klopp reads our media but I imagine he would be quite uncomfortable seeing the eulogies,’ Neville wrote. ‘There’s been quite a bit of fawning when he has yet to play a football match in England, never mind win one.

‘It is almost as if Liverpool have to impress Jurgen Klopp. It should be the other way round. On the internet I came across ex-Liverpool players saying this was ‘a marriage made in heaven’ and ‘it’s giving me goosebumps.’

‘Well, I’m not a Liverpool fan. I get that. I understand the intrigue and the excitement around a new manager, but I’m also thinking: if we go back to original principles, it was about managers having to prove themselves, players having to prove themselves, people in life having to prove themselves. Now, we elevate people to the status of exotic creatures.’

Neville is also insistent that Klopp will struggle to better the achievements of Brendan Rodgers without a huge amount of money being spent on his squad.

‘He will have to recruit incredibly well – and hope that Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal recruit less well,’ Neville wrote. ‘In other words he will have to defy all odds to win the league, which would be a huge achievement, just as it would have been for Brendan Rodgers 18 months ago.

‘I struggle to think of the last time Liverpool signed a Grade A player. Luis Suarez was turned into a Grade A player. But it might be 10 years since they signed one already at world-class level.

‘To win the title will require one of the outstanding managerial performances of all time. Or the owners are going to have to throw the bank at it and give him the money to entice top-class players to Merseyside.’